Academy

An academy is a special kind of school where people go to learn after finishing their basic schooling. The word comes from a very old school started by a famous thinker named Plato around 386 BC in a place called Akademia near Athens, Greece. This spot was a quiet sanctuary dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, making it a perfect place for learning and sharing ideas.

Today, an academy can mean many things. It might be a group of experts who study science, art, or literature, or it could be a school that teaches special skills like music, painting, or even cooking. Some academies are run by the government, while others are private, but they all focus on helping people learn new and important things.

Academies have played a big role in shaping how we learn and share knowledge. They help keep traditions of learning alive, just like Plato did many years ago in his garden school. Whether it’s through research, teaching, or creating art, academies continue to be important places for discovery and education all over the world.

Etymology

The word "academy" comes from a place in ancient Greece called the Academy. This name comes from a local hero named Akademos. Outside the city of Athens, there was a special learning place made famous by the philosopher Plato. This sacred spot, dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, used to be an olive grove.

In these gardens, Plato would talk with his students. He turned these talks into a way of teaching philosophy and in 387 BC, he started what we now call the Old Academy. Over time, the word "academia" came to mean the sharing and growing of knowledge across many years, as well as the people who teach and learn it. In the 1600s, scholars in Britain, Italy, and France began using the term for different kinds of schools for higher learning.

History

Origins

Original Academy

The original Academy started as a sacred grove of olive trees dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, outside the city walls of ancient Athens. This place was known as Hekademia, which later became Akademia. It was here that Plato founded his school of philosophy around 386 BC. The site was considered holy and important for its connection to Athena and other gods.

Plato’s successors led the Academy after him, including Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates, and Arcesilaus. Later leaders such as Lacydes of Cyrene, Carneades, Clitomachus, and Philo of Larissa also guided the Academy. Many famous thinkers, like Aristotle and Eudoxus of Cnidus, were part of this important school.

Neoplatonic Academy of Late Antiquity

After a break during early Roman times, the Academy was started again by Platonists in late antiquity. They called themselves successors of Plato and claimed to continue his tradition, though there was no real connection to the original Academy.

In the 6th century, the last Greek philosophers of this revived Academy came from different parts of the Hellenistic world. The emperor Justinian stopped the school’s funding in AD 529, which is often seen as the end of ancient times. Some members later sought safety under the rule of the Sassanid king Khosrau I in Ctesiphon, carrying valuable scrolls with them.

Ancient and medieval institutions

Ancient world

Greece and early Europe

After Plato’s Academy, his students and colleagues started their own schools. Arcesilaus founded the Middle Academy, and Carneades started the New Academy. In 335 BC, Aristotle established the Lyceum, another important school.

Africa

The Musaeum, Serapeum, and the library of Alexandria in Egypt were centers where intellectuals from Africa, Europe, and Asia studied philosophy, language, and mathematics.

The University of Timbuktu was a medieval university in present-day Mali, with three mosques serving as schools. It was a major center of learning with thousands of students.

China

In China, a school called Shang Xiang was founded long ago. Later, the Imperial Central Academy at Nanjing became a major institution combining education and research.

India

Taxila, near present-day Islamabad in Pakistan, was an early center of learning, existing from at least the 5th century BC. It taught the Vedas, arts, and skills like archery and hunting. Students entered at age sixteen.

Nalanda, founded in the 5th century AD in Bihar, India, was a Buddhist university. It had classrooms, libraries, and dormitories for thousands of students from many countries.

Persia

Persia absorbed ideas from many cultures. The Academy of Gundishapur was a famous center for medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and logic, later influencing the founding of Baghdad as a learning center.

Islamic world

Important universities like the University of Al-Karaouine in Fes, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and the University of Timbuktu were founded during this time. The Mustansiriya Madrasah in Baghdad had a huge library with hundreds of thousands of books.

Medieval Europe

In Europe, new schools began to appear in the 12th and 13th centuries. Monks and priests started schools in cities like Bologna, Salerno, Naples, Salamanca, Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge. These schools studied the seven liberal arts, which included grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

Renaissance academies in Italy

During the Renaissance, new academies appeared in Italy. In Florence, Cosimo de' Medici helped re-establish the Platonic Academy in 1439. In Rome, Cardinal Bessarion’s home became a center for Neoplatonic philosophy. Other academies, like the one led by Pomponius Leto, focused on studying ancient culture and ideas.

In Naples, the Accademia Pontaniana was founded by Alfonso of Aragon and Antonio Beccadelli.

16th-century literary-aesthetic academies

The 16th century saw many new academies in Rome with creative names. These groups often gathered to enjoy literature and art. Some became more organized, like the Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, which helped train artists and change how art was taught.

17th- and 18th-century academies in Europe

Over time, academies began to focus on specific areas like arts, language, and sciences. Kings and rulers often started and supported these academies.

Literary-philosophical academies

In the 17th century, Italy continued the tradition of groups of friends meeting around learned leaders. Many new academies were founded in the 18th century in Italian cities.

Academies of the arts

The Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, started in 1648, was very important. It organized art exhibitions and trained artists. Similar art academies were founded across Europe.

Language academies

The Accademia della Crusca in Florence focused on the Italian language. It inspired other language academies, like the Académie française in France, which worked to preserve and improve the French language.

Academies of sciences

The first academy devoted only to sciences was the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, founded in 1603. Other science academies followed, like the Accademia del Cimento in Florence and the Royal Society of London.

Many European kings started their own science academies in the 18th century, such as the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Academic societies

Academic societies began as informal groups of scholars sharing work. They later became official organizations, often supported by kings or governments. The Royal Society in London, founded in 1660, was the first such society.

Military academies

Early military academies trained artillery and engineering officers. Later, they expanded to train all military officers. Examples include the Royal Danish Military Academy, founded in 1713, and the École Militaire in Paris, started by Louis XV in 1750.

Modern use of the term academy

Today, the word "academy" is used for many different kinds of groups and schools. It can mean anything from regular schools to special groups of scientists, artists, or writers. Some of these groups are paid for by the government, while others are private.

For example, there are national groups called academies that help control money for research. These groups are usually made up of very smart people in a certain field, like science or art. One famous example is the Académie Française, which helps decide how the French language is used.

There are also special schools that use the word "academy" in their name. These include music schools, military schools, and police training schools. In the United States, there are schools called academies that are like high schools. Some of these were started a long time ago and still exist today.

In France, there are special groups called academies that watch over all the schools in a certain area. These groups make sure that primary and secondary schools are doing well. They also have some say over public universities in their area.

In Russia, the word "academy" is used for big research groups that are paid for by the government. One of these is the Russian Academy of Sciences, which still exists today.

English school types

Tertiary education

Main article: Dissenting academies

From the mid-seventeenth to the 19th centuries, schools in England that were not part of the Church of England were called "dissenting academies". These schools gave people a place to learn if they did not agree with the Church of England.

University College London (UCL) was started in 1826 as the first public university in England that anyone could go to, no matter what they believed. Not long after, laws that limited people who were not part of the Church of England were changed.

Primary and secondary education

In 2000, England started a new kind of school called an "academy". These schools get money from the government but not from local councils. They can be sponsored by businesses, universities, or charities. These schools have more freedom than regular schools.

United States

See also: Secondary education in the United States and History of higher education in the United States

A long time ago in the United States, schools were not split into high schools and colleges like they are today. An "academy" was what we would now call a high school. Many of these schools had names that included "academy". For example, Benjamin Franklin started an academy that is now the University of Pennsylvania.

Germany

During a time called the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of what an academy should be changed in Europe. A man named Wilhelm von Humboldt helped change the education system in Prussia. He believed that education should help people be creative and versatile. Many universities in Europe still try to follow these ideas, even though today students often study just one subject very well.

Academic personnel

Main article: Academic staff

Main listing: List of academic ranks

See also: Academic administration

An academic is a person who works as a teacher or researcher at a university or other college. They usually have a special kind of degree that shows they have studied a lot. The word scholar can also mean the same thing as academic and talks about people who are very good at studying one subject.

Some leaders at universities, like university presidents, are not usually called academics even if they also do research and write books.

In the United States, the word academic often means a professor, but now more places also count librarians as academic staff. In the United Kingdom, there are many titles for academics, like research associate, research fellow, lecturer, reader, and professor. Sometimes people call teachers at places like Oxford and Cambridge just don.

Structure

Academia is usually divided into different areas of study, which started from old subjects called the trivium and quadrivium. Over time, these areas have changed and become more specialized, focusing on smaller topics. Today, combining different areas, called interdisciplinary research, is valued but can be challenging.

Most schools and universities are organized into departments based on these areas of study. Each department is usually managed and funded separately, but they may share some teachers and staff. Universities also have a larger management team, like a president and deans, that oversees everything. There is also a system called tenure that helps protect teachers and researchers from outside pressures.

Qualifications

Main article: Academic degree

When students finish their studies, they earn degrees. The common degrees are associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctorate. These degrees are being standardized across Europe as part of the Bologna process. Most teachers and researchers have doctorates, but in some fields, having a master's degree is enough.

Academic conferences

Main article: Academic conference

Academics often meet at conferences to share their research and ideas with others in their field.

Town and gown

Main article: Town and gown

Universities can be very different from the towns they are in. Sometimes this leads to disagreements between the people who live nearby and the students and teachers. For example, some places have tried to stop students from voting locally. Other times, there are cultural differences that cause tension. The film Breaking Away shows one such conflict.

Academic publishing

Main article: Academic publishing

Academic journals have been around for a long time. Some of the earliest ones were from the Royal Society in the 1600s. At first, sharing new discoveries was tricky and often led to arguments about who found something first. Over time, sharing ideas through journals became more common and accepted.

Today, there are many journals, and scientists often feel they need to publish their work often to succeed. Journals usually have experts review papers before they are published, helping to make sure the research is good. Some journals are more famous than others, and scientists try to publish in the best ones to show how important their work is. Some people think journals might change in the future, becoming more like online discussion places, but it's not clear yet how that will work.

Academic dress

Main article: Academic dress

Gowns have been linked to schools and learning since the early days of universities in the 14th and 15th centuries, often because many early teachers were church leaders. Over time, the gowns worn by people who earn degrees have become somewhat similar, though each country and school has its own styles, and some have stopped using them even for graduation.

In places like the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, students might need to wear gowns for special events and graduations. These gowns are usually shorter for students not yet graduated. In other countries, like the US, this tradition is not used at all. At the University of Trinity College in Canada, students wear gowns for formal dinners and meetings.

In the US and UK, people who earn a bachelor's degree wear a simple long robe and a special flat cap called a mortarboard. Sometimes they may also wear a hood, though this is less common in the US. People earning a master's degree wear a similar cap and gown but with closed sleeves and a hood that hangs down the back.

Doctoral degree holders have the most detailed gowns, often with extra velvet stripes and colors showing their field of study. They may also wear a different type of cap called a Tudor bonnet. Today, gowns are mostly worn during graduation ceremonies, though some schools still ask for them at special events. In the past, it was more common to wear these gowns in classrooms, but this practice has mostly stopped.